10 months

Israel turned 10 months old on the 6th! Only 7 weeks until he turns 1 year old. What a big boy. He has developed such a personality in the last month or so. He just started putting his hand to his ear to talk on a pretend cell phone.....haha. If I say "where is Israel?", he will cover his face with his hands and then take them off...then I say "there he is!" It is so cute! I am realizing that he understands a lot of what I am saying. He bear crawls pretty much everywhere now instead of the standard hands and knees crawl....everyone thinks it is pretty funny. He has started to let go of furniture while standing and will cruise from one piece of furniture to the next. He loves to play ball and even has his own golf clubs that he likes to use to hit balls around the house with. He likes to roar at people because daddy and I do this when we chase him around the house on all fours...LOL! One day at Wal-Mart he was ROARING at the people that walked by him....it was hilarious! He also talks a lot in his baby jibberish....I love it! He is such a blessing. I was thinking and sometimes I am concerned I might love him too much....I know that sounds wierd but I do love him like crazy. I guess I just want to make sure I love him in a healthy way not too smothery or obsessed...but this week I had two people tell me out of the blue....without me mentioning my thoughts that our love for our children is a reflection of how our heavenly Father loves us! I believe these people were used by the Lord to speak into my life about how much Jesus loves me....it really did blow me away when I related it to the way I think about my son and the thoughts I have toward him.....It is crazy to think that He loves me like that and MUCH more! Thank You Jesus for Your love....I would be so lost without You:)

Cool site for mom's with young children

I just found this web-site for children's learning activities and I LOVE it! It gives a lot of great ideas for learning activities you can do with your child that are age-appropriate. It was neat to see that I am already doing some of them without even thinking about the fact that I am teaching Israel things he needs to know. If you are interested in checking it out you can go to www.learningdevelopmentactivities.blogspot.com

pics of the week..............

I love this lil guy! I have to strap him down in his high chair in order to get a good pick of him....the kid does not stop moving......uh oh, I think I am in for it...lol!

"ni ni" and....... what is on my mind at the moment

Israel says "ni ni" now....I say it to him every time I lay him down for naps or bedtime....he loves it! He says it back to me, it is so cute! I am pretty sure he has also been trying to say doggy, he says something like "do do"......when I say doggy he looks for our dog....he definitely knows what the word means....but this week I caught him trying to say it while looking at dogs. I think the word took on new meaning for him because he was introduced to 4 new dogs this week besides our dog. He loves dogs....he has ever since he has been aware of them.

I went to a baby shower today for a church friend named Sarah. I sat with several other moms from church and other acquaintances. Israel stayed at home...it was so nice to be out of the house and have adult conversations with other women that I have so much in common with... they all have small children AND they love the Lord. We talked mostly about our kids, which is always fun.

Until recently, I have never seen the importance for having female friends than I do right now. Sometimes I crave the interaction and special connection found only in a female friend. Through my high school years I had a lot of friends and I LIVED for my social life. But it was very superficial....don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my friends and I had great ones but it was a time where I didn't feel comfortable within myself....I don't think I felt comfortable totally being myself with all of the pressures to be cool and all. Then in my college years, I so badly wanted to do well in school (since my grades suffered in high school b/c of my social life and the things I got involved with) so I got a boyfriend and we pretty much secluded ourselves. I had women that wanted to be my friends, and they were, to a degree....but I wasn't a very good friend b/c I chose instead to spend EVERY moment possible with my boyfriend. (I apologize ladies! I know some of you read this blog occasionally) I was a bit of a recluse and people probably thought I was a bit strange holing myself up in my room 24/7. Looking back, I was very lost in this time in my life.....thank the Lord, I am finally found:)

Now, I am married to a wonderful, godly man......and I feel safe, secure, I don't feel I have anything to prove.....I have a lil boy, whom I love dearly........I am settled in my skin, in my life....but still striving to be better.....and I want to have deep, meaningful, godly friendships with other women....to rub lives with them, share wisdom, laugh, cry, love, live, pray together and for one another......I see how important this is and how the Lord wants us to share our lives with others besides those we live with....it is part of being a witness of His great love.

I have realized that I do have a best, female friend and I have to say that it didn't come easy at first.....I love her dearly......she is my sister-in-law and we met just before I started dating her brother........we hit it off great and then things got distant between us, I don't even know what really happened but I know that Satan did not want us to be friends....I think deep down we both wanted to be friends and what can I say but that the Lord has restored our friendship, 20 times! What a blessing it is to be friends with someone that you don't feel like you have to impress and can just be your "loser self" with, LOL!....someone that listens.......and is ALWAYS encouraging.....loyal......keeps secrets. Even though we are at different places in our lives, we still have so much in common because of our relationship with the Lord. She inspires me and I am proud to call her not only my sister, but my friend.

So, if you sometimes think that making and keeping friends is more work than it is worth....remember that EVERY beautiful relationship IS work, you have to give of yourself and spend time and energy to get there....BUT in the end it is worth it just to have that someone you call friend! Okay, I didn't plan for such a mushy post but there you have it....I guess the Lord is laying something special on my heart................that I need to be better about reaching out to other women that might be looking for a special friend.

9 months and randomness

Oh man.....my baby is getting so BIG! I can't believe he is 9 months already. When I had him, in my head I couldn't even imagine him older than 6 months. He has grown a lot in his social interactions in the last couple of weeks. He likes to look at me and laugh for no apparent reason, just to watch me laugh back at him....HAha...it is funny! He is now handing me items, upon request and randomly. He will also feed me his Cheerios...lol....sometimes, just when he feels like sharing. The last couple of weeks have been tough on him...he has been trying to cut his top two teeth for the past month...finally last week the top left one broke through, the other is so close. He went through a growth spurt and grew 1.5 inches in less than 2 weeks. And he was sick for the first time...it started with a cold: sneezing, snotty nose, dry cough...then he ran a 102 degree fever off and on for 3 days....as a result would wake up every night around 2,3, or 4 and couldn't go back to sleep unless I held him.....I have to admit, I loved the cuddling, even if it was in the middle of the night. Then, once the fever went down he broke out in a rash all over his body. I did some research and this is the exact symptoms of roseola....they get a cold, then a fever, then a rash. Nothing you can do, except Tylenol for the fever, it is a virus and has to run its course. He is still nursing 4 to 5 times a day so the nursings seemed to help calm him in the middle of the night.

He is now 30.5 inches long and 20 lbs 4 oz. He is pulling up on everything and today he even started stepping up on things while he is holding something, to make himself taller....he stepped up on two different toys and on daddy's head....lol! I love him so!!

In other news....I found a web-site that I really like that I want to share about homemaking that has sample schedules and ideas for cleaning routines. It is at http://www.flylady.net/

She has a lot of good ideas on there for making and keeping a home more presentable.

I am learning to knit....currently, I am almost done with my scarf and am also working on a throw. They both actually look really good so far. It has been a lot of fun to have something to do with my extra time. I have also been working on a scrapbook of Israel's first year that I plan to be a gift for his 1st birthday...something he will enjoy down the road.

Oh, and how about that sunshine and those few warm days we had last week. A wonderful preview of what is to come. So excited for summer to get here and to play outside with Israel. I took him out on those few warms days....he got so excited and giggly as the sunshine and wind hit his face. I just know he is going to have a blast exploring this summer....good thing we have a GIANT yard!

Well, that is all for now! God bless!

A good day

Today is a good day....not that I have particularly bad ones. But you know those days where all is going well and you feel like a good mommy and wife....well this is the kind of day I am having. I LOVE these days!

Lord, help me to be pleasing in Your eyes....I can't do it without You.....You are the source of my strength..................and help all the other mommies and wives out there to rely on You to lead them through their days so that others can see You in us. In Jesus' name, AMEN!

8 months

Well, a little late with his 8 month post! Israel is doing great...he is continuing to develop his personality each day. Oh, where to start?? He is pulling himself to stand up and will cruise down furniture just a bit if he sees something he wants. He can get down from standing position easily now and is very tough as he doesn't cry if he does have a rough landing. Lately when I put him down for bed and naps he gets so happy...he will sit up and I will wrap his blankets around his shoulders and will say over and over "night, night, I love you" and he will smile and giggle and lower his head to the bed and say "ni"....it is so stinkin' cute. He has always been good about sleeping but I can't believe he actually gets happy about sleeping...ha....I think it has to do with the routine or something. He can throw a ball and wave bye-bye now. He likes to throw both hands up in the air over his head. He likes to do the thing where you take your hands over your lips to make the sound and he likes to do it to others as well. He has shown no signs of stranger anxiety as of yet. He LOVES attention from his daddy and initiates play with him. He likes when I hold him and daddy plays with him. He is very social with his daddy...probably because his daddy is very social:) I LOVE this age.....it seems he does something new everyday! He is a very easy baby and we are so blessed to have him in our lives.

As a family, we are great! Work is still slow for Jer but busy season is about to start so we are just trying to soak up all the time we have together. I love having him home during the days right now. He studies the Bible almost all day and we have good discussions about the Lord, our desires, and ways we need to grow. Some mornings he goes to church to teach the kids at school their Bible class. We are still teaching the youth at church and are hoping to get to know them a bit better this year. We would like to go places with them, have them over, hang out! They are a good group of kids and we really enjoy being a part of their lives.

Israel's cousin Jude turned 1 last week and he had a birthday party at Pizza Hut. It was a lot of fun to watch him dig into his own personal cake and to reflect on how much he has grown over the past year and how fast time has went. In no time, we will be getting ready for Israel's first birthday.....I think I might cry. I see more and more everyday how he is gradually going from baby to lil boy!

Have I mentioned that I am ready for spring?? Well, I am. I don't remember EVER having a longer winter....I think they added some extra days to the calendar. I think it has to do with the fact that I don't feel like I had much of a summer with Israel being born at the beginning of the summer and me being indoors most of the time. SOOOO.....hopefully those warm spring days will come early this year!!

I guess that is all for now!! ENJOY the snow while it lasts:)